Hoarding Points

[iWuzCool]

 Hi all.  Right now I have about 250K Chare UR points.  I'm saving them up for when my kids are old enought so that my wife and I can take a fancy holiday (or two) together. This wll be be an posibilityin two years and I should have at least 400K by then.  Is there a risk in doing this?  Could Chase drastically change the pont redemption terms or something?

[Anonymous]

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@iWuzCool wrote:

 Hi all.  Right now I have about 250K Chare UR points.  I'm saving them up for when my kids are old enought so that my wife and I can take a fancy holiday (or two) together. This wll be be an posibilityin two years and I should have at least 400K by then.  Is there a risk in doing this?  Could Chase drastically change the pont redemption terms or something?

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Of course they can change the program and/or eliminate it altogether.  Point and mileage programs are constantly devalued and the longer that you hoard them the more you risk in losing significant value in them.  Having said that I understand the desire to wait until you have a specific need for them.  I have just under 400K UR points myself along with a ton of other miles/points in other programs.  As long as you monitor the program and some of the potential transfer partners for possible devaluation then you will probably be fine. Chase will give you a 30 day notice if they plan in making changes and travel partners usually also give advance notice.

[elim]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@iWuzCool wrote:

 Hi all.  Right now I have about 250K Chare UR points.  I'm saving them up for when my kids are old enought so that my wife and I can take a fancy holiday (or two) together. This wll be be an posibilityin two years and I should have at least 400K by then.  Is there a risk in doing this?  Could Chase drastically change the pont redemption terms or something?

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Of course they can change the program and/or eliminate it altogether.  Point and mileage programs are constantly devalued and the longer that you hoard them the more you risk in losing significant value in them.  Having said that I understand the desire to wait until you have a specific need for them.  I have just under 400K UR points myself along with a ton of other miles/points in other programs.  As long as you monitor the program and some of the potential transfer partners for possible devaluation then you will probably be fine. Chase will give you a 30 day notice if they plan in making changes and travel partners usually also give advance notice.

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  +1  Usually quite an uproar on the normal sites before the hammer falls.  Congrats on building a nice bank.  :]

[grillandwinemaster]

Yes! Congrats on banking your UR points. My goal is similar to yours. Wife and I are looking at accumulating enough points to pay for, or at least make a significant dent for a trip to Ireland, or Germany. 

Program devaluation Is always a risk.  I want to be like Irish80 When I grow up! (UR points rich...)

[sarge12]

Is there a risk???? Chase could close the card at any time, and then I think you would lose all those points according to the terms. My trust of Chase, or any other issuer is not that high...I'd say, cash them out and put it into a CD. A bird in the hand.....you get the idea!

[wasCB14]

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@elim wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@iWuzCool wrote:

 Hi all.  Right now I have about 250K Chare UR points.  I'm saving them up for when my kids are old enought so that my wife and I can take a fancy holiday (or two) together. This wll be be an posibilityin two years and I should have at least 400K by then.  Is there a risk in doing this?  Could Chase drastically change the pont redemption terms or something?

---

Of course they can change the program and/or eliminate it altogether.  Point and mileage programs are constantly devalued and the longer that you hoard them the more you risk in losing significant value in them.  Having said that I understand the desire to wait until you have a specific need for them.  I have just under 400K UR points myself along with a ton of other miles/points in other programs.  As long as you monitor the program and some of the potential transfer partners for possible devaluation then you will probably be fine. Chase will give you a 30 day notice if they plan in making changes and travel partners usually also give advance notice.

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  +1  Usually quite an uproar on the normal sites before the hammer falls.  Congrats on building a nice bank.  :]

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An uproar, yes...but that doesn't stop the devaluation from happening!

Advance notice is only helpful if you have the points, can make new plans to use them, and find award availability (often limited, if many others suddenly rush to book) before the nerf happens. If OP doesn't travel frequently, that might not be possible.

I used to hoard points, but have switched to using points whenever they offer a reasonably good value. I travel frequently and generally economically, so I don't really have some plan to use them for some huge value in the indefinite future. I also focus on award programs where I can accumulate a lot of points quickly in unorthodox ways if I want them.

OP, take the value you expect to get from the points in the future, reduce that to adjust for likely devaluations either from Chase or travel partners, and compare that to the value you can get from the points in the near future.

If you want to book premium cabin award seats on an international flight in two years, but don't have good redemption opportunities now, you'll likely be fine holding onto URs for two years. If the point value of your current opportunities is higher or the future opportunities lower, then using some points now may make sense.

[longtimelurker]

As others have said, there are certainly some risks: in particular an issuer can decide you have done something bad (rightly or wrongly) and close your account.  Typically with Chase you would have some time to redeem the points but that is not guaranteed.    However, for most this is probably a small risk (and if isn't small for you, you probably know what you are doing!)

Flexible points, like UR/MR/TYP are the hardest to have hard and fast rules for.  I know a lot of people here do, but it makes almost no sense to leave cash equivalent points (e.g. QuickSilver) points with an issuer, cash them out and, if needed, but them in an interest bearing account.  (The exception would be for something like Discover IT, where you can get more value redeeming for gift cards, so saving up points for that might make more sense).

With stuff like UR, if you know that the only possible redemption you will make is to hotel/airline X, it could be good to mitigate risk by transferring some of the points to that program, but this has its own risks: a better partner might come along, at the time you plan to use the points X no longer has the flights/property you need, the value is less than the cash value of the UR etc

[steel_string]

Since the lawsuit, you get 60 days after an account is closed (by either party) to cash out with Chase. When I closed my Commence card, the Barclays rep read me a standard speech that mentioned I had 60 days with them too. I don't know what other issuers are doing.

[sillykitty1]

If you have a specific redemption in mind, then I think that is saving vs. hoarding.

Best redemption values tend to be international business class.  United Saver RT business class to Asia is 160K or 140K to Europe.  I don't feel like I have a useful amount of UR pints until I'm at, at least 280K.

[iWuzCool]

Thanks all for the great feedback.  I will take caution and I come accross a good redemption oportunity before my two year plan, I'll use it.